Children Suffering from Seizures Demand Access to Life Saving Rescue Medication

Subject line: Unsafe and Highly Dangerous School Policy Regarding Life Saving Rescue Medication for Children with Seizures

Good morning,

I am writing you today regarding the culmination of several decisions made throughout the province regarding the accessibility and use of rescue medications for children suffering from seizures within the school system. There have been several instances in which children have been denied the right to access and carry these rescue medications, as well as being told that school staff members will not provide this emergency medication under any circumstances.

This decision is reprehensible and highly unsafe for all children who suffer from seizures and attend school within the BC education system. Denying a child access to this life saving medication is akin to denying a child with a peanut allergy access to an epipen. We are living through a healthcare crisis in which there are frequent ambulance shortages, leaving children at further risk of permanent brain damage or death if access to rescue medications are denied. Parents of children suffering from seizures cannot feel safe sending their child to school in this province with the knowledge that they would be denied the medication required to save their life in the event of a prolonged seizure. It is baffling that this government and education system continues to further marginalize children with disabilities by creating additional barriers that impede our children’s ability to attend school like any child should be able to do. The lack of investment in resource staff and education assistants is further compounding this issue, and as a result, vulnerable children are consistently being left behind in this province. You would not deny a child with asthma an inhaler, or a child with an allergy an epipen, yet children with seizures are expected to run the risk of severe and permanent injury due to an uneducated and misguided policy put in place by school and ministry officials.

There is ample precedent in legislature that protects educators from liability in the event that an epipen needs to be administered to a child suffering from an allergic reaction. There is an urgent need for a similar law to be enacted protecting educators who must administer life saving rescue medication, as not doing so will put lives at risk and further discriminate against children with disabilities. A seizure is not always a medical emergency, but in the event that rescue medication is required, time is of the essence in ensuring the health and wellbeing of the individual suffering from a seizure.

I demand an answer as to why this policy exists, as well as a swift and immediate solution that ensures children with seizures will receive rescue medication while at school should an emergency occur. Parents of children with seizures have enough fear and anxiety about sending their children to school without needing to worry that they will die due to simple inaction and misinformation.